Now this is a heroine!
Moana
Grade: A
Director: Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid)
Screenplay: Jared Bush (Zootopia)
Cast: Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson (Central Intelligence)
Rating: PG
Runtime: 107 min.
by John DeSando
“If you wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, you're a princess.” Maui (Dwayne Johnson)
In animated Moana, the titular Polynesian heroine is also a Disney heroine: smart, feisty, beautiful, wearing a dress, and with a chicken for a sidekick. She is memorable the way a little mermaid or shining fish might be, but more so, because she represents so much of the Samoan and Maori cultures in addition to the impressive musical ones.
Yet, maybe the most impressive musical bit comes more from David Bowie than the islands, a song rich about a gold crab’s shell punctuated with vigor and humor. Because this is a Disney fantasy, most of the songs are about self actualization and empowerment especially tailored to a pre-teen looking to know who she is and why the ocean has chosen her to save her people.
Director Ron Clements and writer Jared Bush show their chops once again by incorporating wit and diffidence in both the heroine and the demigod Maui, whom she seeks to save her people, who have been blighted by years of conservatism and isolationism (“Never go beyond the reef” is their mantra). The fertility that she exemplifies in the face of their sterility is emphasized finally by the closing shot of a beached sea shell.
The Disney refrain of being who you are and who you want to be, while trite in the extreme given the animated history behind these toons, is fresh enough because it is existentially the place for any developing young person and because in these parlous times.
Maona is an antidote for cynicism and a hallelujah for ethnic richness promoted by tribal music and dance and family values that feature respect for elders and emerging power for women. You go, Disney!
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
